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- Exerpt:
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- Defense attorney David Adler said the Justice Department's
belated admission implicates seven attorneys in the plot to lie, withhold
evidence or participate in the cover up. Three of them became federal judges,
one was appointed an independent counsel and the three others now hold
high positions in the department. _____
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- The Justice Department on Tuesday admitted that it used
false testimony in the Houston trial of an ex-CIA agent in an effort to
conceal the CIA's role in a plan to send weapons to Libya despite an arms
embargo.
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- Edwin Wilson was convicted in 1983 of exporting explosives
to Libya, partly on the basis of the affidavit of CIA executive director
Charles Briggs -- then the third-highest ranking official in the agency.
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- Wilson had claimed that he shipped 20 tons of C-4 plastic
explosives from Houston's Bush/Intercontinental Airport to Libya at the
request of the CIA.
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- But in pleadings filed in U.S.District Judge Lynn Hughes'
court, the Justice Department acknowledged prosecutor Ted Greenberg had
introduced evidence about Wilson that he knew was false.
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- In an affidavit introduced into evidence by Greenburg,
Briggs swore "Wilson was not asked or requested, directly or indirectly,
to perform or provide any services, directly or indirectly, for the CIA,"
after he retired in 1971.
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- Wilson had maintained that the CIA had authorized all
his activities in an intelligence-gathering effort. According to the documents,
Wilson had some 80 contacts with the CIA from his retirement through 1978
and provided a variety of services at the government's request, including
arranging gun sales to a Saudi Arabian security agency and the shipment
of two desalinization units to Egypt on behalf of the CIA.
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- The new filing also shows Wilson was asked to advise
the CIA on labor problems with the Glomar Explorer, a deep-sea submarine
built to recover a sunken Russian submarine. But jurors -- after asking
during deliberations that Briggs' affidavit be read to them -- rejected
that defense and convicted Wilson.
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- He is currently serving a 17-year federal sentence. Hughes
will decide if Wilson will be retried.
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- Defense attorney David Adler said the Justice Department's
belated admission implicates seven attorneys in the plot to lie, withhold
evidence or participate in the cover up. Three of them became federal judges,
one was appointed an independent counsel and the three others now hold
high positions in the department.
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- "They knowingly used false testimony. Briggs' affidavit
said Wilson was not working for the CIA, but he was doing everything from
giving advice to locating military hardware to recruiting," said Adler.
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- Adler said Greenberg ignored warnings by the CIA's top
attorney, who advised against using the affidavit. And Justice and the
CIA continued to discuss it in correspondence and memos even after it was
submitted in court.
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- "This case is really outrageous," said Adler.
"For one thing it's unusual because the government actually documented
the efforts to conceal it."
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- Adler said government prosecutors frequently withhold
evidence in criminal matters. "I wouldn't say it's the rule, but I
wouldn't say it's an exception either," he said. The Department's
revelation comes in the government's response to Wilson's Sept. 8 appeal
of his conviction. Adler praised Hughes for compelling the Department to
disclose the documents.
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- "Judge Hughes' willingness to follow the law is
what gave Wilson the chance to have these documents see the light of day,"
Adler said. The Justice Department argues that Wilson failed to offer any
evidence of CIA authorization specific to the charge against him, and therefore
is not entitled to a new trial.
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- "A mere belief that he was acting in the interests
of the United States did not constitute a legitimate defense," the
motion reads.
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- http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/ Defense attorney David
Adler said the Justice Department's belated admission implicates seven
attorneys in the plot to lie, withhold evidence or participate in the cover
up. Three of them became federal judges, one was appointed an independent
counsel and the three others now hold high positions in the department.
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- And the Justice Dept. wonders why people don't trust
them.
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